The Pensées of Blaise Pascal are notes for a book he never wrote; they are by turns brilliant and baffling, inspiring and provoking. Among those that have provoked readers most are some that devalue life in this world and urge a frankly self-interested pursuit of life in the next. But these difficult and unfashionable thoughts are worth looking at more closely: they suggest that a principled and generous commitment to our present life might require both a clear view of its limitations and our self-interest. Professor Steve Justice takes a close look at a handful of these passages.